Keith Stuart (1) (1971–)

Camilla Piper has known for a long time that she is not destined to be happy in love. There's a curse on her family that runs down the female line and she takes it as confirmation when her boyfriend has a car crash and is seriously injured. It's only as she looks further into her family's history that she learns more about the origin of the curse and starts to wonder if it's not as clear cut as she first thought.

Love is a Curse is a gothic story both in setting and substance. Camilla lives show more in a converted church and this atmospheric setting plays its part extremely well in giving an impression of foreboding and long-held secrets. There's a sense throughout of something a little malevolent lurking for every female member of Camilla's lineage. This is not a dual timeline story but one which fills in the blanks from the past with letters, articles, diaries and the like, all punctuating the contemporary storyline in which Camilla must decide whether or not to risk her love for Ben. I liked this device which allowed the whole picture to present itself to Camilla and to the reader in a most interesting way.

This is a multi-layered and really involving novel, It has some unusual aspects that made it feel original, with kind of an ethereal edge to it. I haven't read any other books by Keith Stuart and I gather this one is a bit of a change of style for him. I found it well-written and intriguing, with a quick-witted and spirited narrator in Cammy, and a storyline that kept drawing me back in. show less

Autism is everywhere.

Regardless of the cause(s), diagnoses are increasing and, having grown up with two autistic siblings, I was keen to read Keith Stuart's 'A Boy Made of Blocks', which promised to be 'an astonishingly authentic story of love, family and autism'.

-- What's it about? --

Alex hates his job and, essentially, his life. He loves his wife, Jody, and son, Sam, but can't communicate effectively with either of them. Stuck in the past and held back by his fear - of change, of life, of show more autism ('I started to see autism as a sort of malevolent spirit, a poltergeist, a demon') - he blames Sam for his failures ('What the hell happened? Sam. Sam happened') and moves aimlessly through time.

Unsurprisingly, this attitude has caused friction with his wife and we meet Alex as he moves out of the family home into a friend's spare bedroom. He's sad and angry but still failing to address the problems which have led to this separation, until his son discovers Minecraft and they begin to play together. Can Alex change his attitudes and approach to Sam? Can playing Minecraft together help this family stitch themselves back together?

-- What's it like? --

Emotional. Realistic. Humorous.

Initially, Alex is quite an unsympathetic character. Despite his blokey humour ('Sometimes I accidentally imagine...[two fellow estate agents] having sex, and Paul is on top shouting, 'We're gonna exchange, we're gonna exchange...we've EXCHANGED!''), his attitude largely alternates between anger and misery. When he eventually takes steps to move forward in life, it's cautiously done, and sometimes I wanted to shake him. But. His relationship and exchanges with Jody and Sam are so convincing that this is a true glimpse into the lives of parents who are mostly doing their best but are only human after all. As a parent of small children, I definitely recognised the tenor and fragile equilibrium of the exchanges between Alex and Sam in particular!

Sam is also well-drawn and, insofar as there can be a 'typical' picture of a high-functioning autistic child, will give readers less familiar with autistic traits a genuine glimpse into the difficulties handled by those on the spectrum and their carers. This accuracy isn't surprising, given that the book was inspired by Keith's own family experiences.

There's a side story about Alex's sister, Emma, who has also been deeply affected by the loss of their third sibling, George, but has tackled (or perhaps not tackled!) her own grief by becoming a globetrotter. Personally, I wasn't particularly interested in her story, and thought the resolution was rather sudden, but it served as an effective contrast to Alex's approach.

-- Final thoughts --

Ultimately, Alex feels trapped in a vortex caused by the Evil Autism, and, instead of drowning in the chaos caused by Sam's quirks, has to learn to see past his understandable frustration with Sam and sorrow for them both ('Poor Sam. My poor boy.') to see who Sam is and who he's capable of becoming.

Whether or not you have an interest in autism, this is an emotional read that will have you cheering along Sam, desperately urging Alex to pull himself together and willing Jody to be patient just a little longer.

The ending is nuanced and thoughtful, emphasising that so often we shape our own reality without being aware of it.

Recommended.

Many thanks to the author and the publishers for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

"Life is an adventure, not a walk. That's why it's so difficult."

This book reads very much like a memoir and I had to check back to convince myself that it was a novel, but the author writes from first hand experience with his own autistic son and it therefore has a very authentic feel.
The other reason I connected with this novel was that Alex, the father of Sam, an autistic boy, finds a bond with his son through Minecraft, an on-line computer game that was played by the three boys who I show more child-minded for many years.

Alex had avoided the issue of his troubled son by spending long hours at work, convincing himself that his responsibility to the family was to bring home the money. When the stresses between himself and his wife reach breaking point, she asks him to move out for a while and to get some psychological help. Suddenly he is sharing a small flat with his childhood mate and his world has fallen apart.

The author does an excellent job of describing the issue of autism for those without first-hand experience - "He has trouble with language, he fears social situations, he hates noise, he obsesses over certain things, and gets physical when situations confuse or frighten him." He wears "special T-shirts with all the linings and stitchings masked so he doesn't feel it on his skin." Although I knew a bit about autism, I realise that there was still a lot I hadn't grasped.

Despite the more serious issues, I loved the author's sense of humour - " 'Daddy', says a voice from downstairs. 'Some of the Coco Pops have got out.' " and I had to relate to - "Ikea, I now have a rickety single bed, rather than an air mattress. I also have a lamp (because you never come away from Ikea with just the thing you went in for) and a cheap rug that generates enough static electricity to power the lamp."

Members of my book group were less enthusiastic than me about this book and had some valid reasons why, but my ratings depend on my own enjoyment and I thoroughly enjoyed this. Even just judging from the number of highlights I made as I read!
4.5 stars from me. show less

Keith Stuart certainly knows the way to my heart and my tear ducts. I read both A Boy Made of Blocks and Days of Wonder with tears rolling down my face towards the end. What's so unusual about that, you say? Well I wasn't crying because I was sad; I was just so unbelievably moved and hadn't realised that Hannah, Tom and the whole theatre gang had set up home in my heart.

Hannah knows that there's an expiry date on her life; she has been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and one day her useless show more heart will cease to work. Hannah has the most amazing dad in Tom who will do anything for her - she is his whole world. Tom has brought Hannah up as a single dad but he hasn't been alone; Hannah has been brought up in Tom's theatre and this cast of colourful characters are her family.

Tom has a lot to contend with in addition to Hannah's illness when the council threaten the theatre with closure. The Willow Tree isn't just a theatre though, it feels like a home for so many people and it's a place where magic can happen when the curtain rises. Hannah needs to know that Tom will still have the theatre when she is gone and she is such an amazing young lady that she somehow finds the strength to fight the closure whilst fighting to keep her heart beating. It just shows you that when something is so important to you, you can find the strength from deep within you to fight for it.

Written from both Tom's and Hannah's perspectives, and interspersed with letters to 'Willow', I just knew that I would be in floods of tears at the end and I wasn't wrong. What surprised me was that my tears started before the end as the magic of the theatre was performed so beautifully through the words of Keith Stuart. There was never going to be a happy ending where cardiomyopathy is involved, but the strength and resolve of this young girl was so moving that I can't help but think of Hannah with a smile on my face.

There is definitely a strong sense of family in Keith Stuart's writing; not only parental love but the warmth of an extended family, whether related or not. The amazing characters all wear their hearts on their sleeves and I was drawn to them like a moth to a flame. I can't explain it but I felt part of the family myself and I felt every emotion with them from the heartbreak of loss to the explosion of first love. Such beautiful writing can't help but elicit a myriad of emotions in the reader and I greatly admire Keith Stuart for his ability to do this.

Days of Wonder is tremendously heartwarming and so unbelievably poignant; it reminds us to live for the day and enjoy every second of our precious lives. Keith Stuart has written such a completely stunning and emotional book that I recommend with all my heart. ❤

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. show less